Archive for the ‘Family stuff’ Category

Medicare is a big topic right now in my family. My grandma on my mom’s side is on it, my grandparents on my dad’s side are on it, and now my mother-in-law is on it. Medicare can be very helpful to those that are of retirement age and it’s important to some because they wouldn’t be able to get coverage otherwise.

When you get to a certain age, it’s important, almost vital to have insurance because you just never know what’s going to happen. My grandparents have been in and out of the hospital numerous times in the past 30 days and if it weren’t for Medicare Supplement Insurance they would be in financial trouble, without a doubt.

One of the down sides to Medicare is the options you have to choose from. My mother-in-law just went through this and in helping her we have learned a thing or two, but I’m sure not everything there is to know about the insurance. In helping her choose which plans to go with we ran into the plans A through N. After research, we discovered that these plans are supplemental insurance plans which are almost a must because there are providers that expect payment of the amount not covered by Medicare.

The other concern my mother-in-law had was with her medications. She’s on several medications, but the one that concerned her most was the one for her Fibromyalgia. This medicine is a must to control it, but the cost is well over $100 a month. After reviewing the different prescription plans we decided on one that would work best for her. Now we’re using Health.com to make sure she can control it in other ways so everything works perfectly and she remains pain free. That site is perfect for anyone as it has health tips and more.

I hope when you’re in a position to start considering Medicare that you’re able to make a decision quickly and easily. Medicare is very confusing to most people, but it’s worth it in the long run when you don’t have to spend the rest of your life worrying day to day who’s going to call wanting money and how you’re going to come up with it on your fixed income. I have found one of the best websites to read is MedicareSupplementalInsurance.com. Good luck!

If you’re struggling to make ends meet or if you want to set a goal to take a vacation in 2012 you may need to consider doing to frugal living in order for it to happen.

Setting frugal goals is a wonderful way to spend less and have more and the New Year is the perfect time to make that happen. There are a number of things you can do to make it happen, but it’s best to start now so you’ll know exactly what to do to make it happen. Here are a few suggestions to help you set the frugal goals for 2012.

I would say the area you’ll see the most savings when it comes to living frugally has to be at the grocery store. An easy way to save at the store is to purchase generic items whenever possible. Now you make find that’s not always possible or you may not like the generic item and if that’s the case you’ll need to purchase name brand, but if you can’t taste the difference, you should do it. For example, we don’t like generic cheese, but we don’t have a problem with generic soup when it’s used in a meal and not a stand alone item.

Another way to save money at the store is to use coupons. Now you must be careful on this because there may be times when you have a coupon for the name brand product, but if the price isn’t lower with the coupon and you don’t mind a generic, you need to go that route. You’ll need to pay close attention to the prices and quantities or you’ll end up spending more than what is necessary. Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas is a great time of year for everyone, but it’s the best for children. I love putting the tree up, decorating it and putting decorations up throughout the house. It makes the house look beautiful and cheery. Now that I have kids there is something different about the decorations. Our boys are 15 and 13, so they’re old enough to do the decorating themselves and that is awesome to watch. I love to see what they think because in my eyes it’s perfect no matter what they do.

This year we put our tree up on Friday afternoon because Chris had to work. The family room and living room look awesome. They did a great job!

Saturday morning Kevin, Chris, and Josh went to my mother-in-laws house to help her put up her village. They did an awesome job as you can see in the picture below.

Saturday afternoon Josh went to my mom’s house to help her, my niece Shai, and my nephew Caalab decorate the tree and house. Chris had to work so he was not able to go. They did a great job there too as you can see from the pictures.

I love this time of year and when I see my boys doing what they think is perfect, it’s even better. My boys make this time of year awesome and I’m so glad God gave them to me. Love you Kevin, Chris, and Josh!!

Yesterday I posted a picture of our boys in the water standing on their hands. For Easter this year we took the boys to Las Vegas. It was a great time and the weather was just perfect. The pools were open and so on the last day we were there we took the boys swimming. This is a video of them standing on their hands in the water. This is something Josh couldn’t do at first, but after a few minutes of help from his big brother Chris, he was able to make it happen. Great job boys!!

How many times have you gone into a public place and have had someone not use their manners with you or someone else? It happens all the time and it’s possible the reason is because we were never taught what manners are and how we should use them all the time.

It’s important we use manners at all times because hurting others or being mean to others is not a good idea. The saying, “Do unto others as you would want done to you” is important and a good rule to follow.

Here are the top 10 manners you should use when you have the need.

1. When you ask for something make sure you say please.
2. When someone gives you something make sure you say thank you.
3. Don’t reach across the table for something, ask for it.
4. When you’re asked how you’re doing make sure you ask them in return.
5. If you’re not sure if you’re supposed to do something, ask for permission.
6. If you must walk in front of someone or you run into them, say excuse me.
7. Don’t be mean or call others names.
8. Don’t make fun of others or tease them for any reason.
9. Don’t say mean things about the appearance of others.
10. Don’t interrupt others when they are speaking. Wait for them to stop.

It doesn’t matter where you live, how old you are, or who you are, using your manners is a must. It also doesn’t matter what you’re doing or where you are, manners need to be used at all times. When you’re a parent you must teach your children about manners at an early age. It’s also important you use your manners at all times since children follow what the adults in their lives.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of http://WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenager boys. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you go to http://peekintomylifeasasportsmom.com to read her mommy blog.

How many times have you told your child, “Money doesn’t grow on trees”? I know I used to tell my boys that on a regular basis. Sometimes it felt like I was telling them this several times a day. Small children and sometimes the older ones as well, don’t understand this, but it’s something you need to show them or they’ll have money problems for years to come.

We give our boys an allowance every week, but it doesn’t come free. They must do chores around the house or they won’t get it. Those chores include taking out the trash, rolling the garbage can to the street once a week, taking care of the dog, cleaning their rooms, and helping pick up other rooms in the house. It’s not a lot, but we do expect them to help or they won’t be paid.

It’s no different then a regular job or a business. If you sit around and do nothing all day, you’re not going to receive a paycheck for it and if you do it won’t take long before it’s noticed and it comes to an end. Well you need to treat the chores and allowance the same way.

If they don’t do what’s been assigned to them for the day or week, the allowance will either be docked for a certain amount or it won’t be given at all. This may be hard to do, so you’ll need to come up with a way to make it work. Pay a certain amount of money a day or per chore so it’s easy to dock it from the pay when it’s not done. Using a whiteboard may help with this or you can create a spreadsheet with the chores and boxes to mark when it’s been done.

Another thing we struggled with was with them borrowing money. If one of the boys wanted something at the store, but didn’t have the money we used to buy it for them and not require them to pay us back. It got to a point where he would purposely leave his money at home because he knew we’d just buy it for him. While this was a hard lesson it was one we decided was a must. We were spending way too much money doing this and it was defeating the purpose, so it came to an end. Read the rest of this entry »

Spending time with your family is important, but it’s even more important when you include God in what you do. As a Christian family it’s more important now then ever to continually be in the Word. The devil is out there to kill, steal, and destroy and he’s going to try now matter what, so staying in the Word is the way to prevent that from happening.

It’s important and vital to continually show your children how God can help them in their lives and the best way to do that is to include God in everything you do. You can do this very easily and in every single thing you do when you think about what you’re doing and how you can make it happen.

There are so many things you can do to have God in your life. I have thought about this and have come up with a number of ways. One way is to do daily prayer together. This can be done in the morning before you head out for the day or in the evening right before the kids go to bed. Another way is to have daily Bible study with the family. This will help you keep in the Word daily and you’ll be able to get through any situation that may come up.

For more ideas about how you can spend time with your family and include God in it, click here today. You’ll find this pack of articles will help you make it happen.

Today is Josh’s 13th birthday and it’s a very special day. He’s been looking forward to this day for a long time, but I’ll tell you if it weren’t for the doctors and nurses at the Wyoming Medical Center and Presbyterian St Luke’s hospital in Denver along with God, Josh wouldn’t be with us today.

Josh was born five weeks early and his lungs were not fully developed. Praise God for putting the idea of giving me the steroid injection to mature his lungs in the mind of my doctor, because the doctors in Denver told us that was the only thing that saved Josh. The other thing that helped Josh was his size. At 35 weeks, Josh was 5 pounds 6 1/2 ounces. Most children at that age are around 2 or 3 pounds. My doctor said if he would have gone full term he would have been over 10 pounds.

Right after Josh was born he was taken away to an incubator where they worked on him. I’ll tell you it was one of the scariest things we’ve gone through, but it was by the grace of God that we made it through. Minutes after he was born he was taken to have a chest X-ray done so they could put a tube in him to help him breathe. He would have another one while he was in Casper just to make sure it was in properly. He was put in the nursery and stayed there until the doctors and nurses from Denver could get here. Josh was in Casper for 7 hours and then he was flown to Denver.

We decided Kevin would go with him, but I would have to stay behind because I had a fever and they needed to find the source of it so they could help me to get better as well. The ambulance came with the doctors and nurses from Denver and they loaded Josh up and headed to the airport. After getting a mile or two away from the hospital it was discovered that Kevin was not with them, so they made a mad dash back to the hospital for him. Once they arrived at the airport Josh, Kevin, the doctors, and the nurses were loaded into a jet and they were on their way to Denver.

Once in Denver they would take a helicopter from the airport to the hospital but there wasn’t enough room for Kevin so they called ahead for a cab to take Kevin to the hospital. The cab driver got lost and Kevin had to walk a good while down the road before the two would meet. By the time Kevin made it to the hospital Josh was settled into his incubator in the NICU. We were able to get Kevin a room in the attached retirement community that the hospital had. He would make numerous daily trips to the NICU to be with Josh.

Meanwhile I was back in Casper stressing and feeling horrible. I was not able to hold Josh and that broke my heart. My doctor put me on antibiotics and my fever went away. After spending four days in the hospital I was finally able to go home, but I couldn’t bring myself to go by myself so Chris and I stayed at my mom and dad’s house until I was able to make the trip to Denver. After an additional two days I couldn’t handle it anymore so I made a call to my doctor. I told her one way or the other I was going to Denver and I’d hoped she would give me the ability to go. She gave me some medicine and sent me on my way. My mom and dad drove me and Chris to Denver so we could be with Kevin and Josh. After five days I was finally able to hold my little boy. He was so little and had all sorts of wires and cords attached to him.

While we were at the hospital Josh had lost a little over a pound. We were told he couldn’t leave until he was back up to birth weight so we were going to have to wait for him to get back up to the 5 pound 6 1/2 ounce mark as well. They did tell us he could go home on oxygen, but he might have to go back to the hospital in Casper if the level of oxygen he was at was at a certain amount. We prayed that would not be the case, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it was the case.

Day after day we would visit Josh multiple times a day. We hated the thought of him being alone even though he had his own nurse to take care of him. There was a time or two where I’d wake up in the middle of the night and Kevin would be gone, but I always knew where he was. I woke up a few times, but couldn’t find my way so I wasn’t able to go. There were also a few times where both of us would be awake so we’d go together. The one thing that helped us was the place we stayed at was connected to the hospital so we had the ability to walk the halls to get to him.

After a week of being in the hospital and continually being with him, the nurses told us we needed to get out and do something. So we decided to go to Casa Bonita for dinner. We had to be back by a certain time so we could get in the hospital where we parked at, so we were limited on the time we had for dinner. We enjoyed our dinner, but truly missed Josh so we decided to go back. We could see the hospital but with all the one way streets we got lost. We finally made it back to the hospital with one minute to spare. What a relief!

During Josh’s stay in the NICU he had an IV in his head and needless to say that was horrible. He still has a scar from that IV and the hair won’t grow in that spot. He also had a feeding tube and the tube to help him breathe. Each time they tried to remove the tube he would stop breathing so the tube would have to be reconnected. He spent 7 days on a breathing tube before he was able to be taken off and put on oxygen. At that point he was moved to the regular nursery. It was an exciting day to say the least.

On the 8th day we were scheduled to go home. We were so excited. In the final hours they were monitoring things and Josh had what they call a brady. This is where the heart skips a beat. We all have those but when they are caught on a monitor the hospital won’t let you go home. You must go 24 hours without one before you can leave. So the going home status was changed and we were stuck there again. Approximately 18 hours later, he had another brady so again we weren’t going home. While we understood why he couldn’t go home, it was frustrating and we were sad. Finally after 10 days of being there we were finally able to go home.

We put him in the only car seat we had and he looked so little. We had to put blankets and towels around him so he would fit. Thirteen years ago that was ok to do, but that’s probably not something they would allow to happen now. LOL The trip home was scary, but God was there to protect us all along the way. Since we were both worried about him, I road all the way home in the back seat. Josh did a wonderful job and slept almost all the way home.

Thirteen years later, Josh is a wonderful child and you’d never know he was born five weeks early and spent time on a breathing tube. He’s energetic, loves to play basketball, soccer, and run in track. He loves playing games and is very good with a computer. He’s a happy and very funny kid and that’s wonderful to see.

Today I want to say happy birthday to a wonderful young man. I’m proud of you Josh and I love you so much. Have a great day buddy!

Today is a special day in our family. Today is Kevin’s birthday. We went camping for the weekend to celebrate his special day and weekend. Kevin is an awesome husband and an even better dad. He loves to play games with the boys, watch them play their sports, and do things with us as a family. He takes pride in what he gives to us and he takes care of us no matter what happens.

Kevin loves to work on cars, surf the internet, and spend time with us and that’s a wonderful thing. He has a wonderful knowledge of cars, electric, and he is a great cook. He’s not afraid to try something new and enjoys the thrill of the unknown. He’s a man of God and that makes me feel at ease. He knows how to encourage our boys so they will be men of God too..

Discussing allowance can be hard if you’re not prepared when it comes to talking with your children. There are a number of things you need to know and have in mind when it comes time to have this talk. Here are some tips for you to use when the time comes.

The first thing you need to do is decide what chores your children will do and you need to make this decision based on their age and ability. You don’t want to give them chores that are too hard for them and if you have younger children you don’t want to give your older children chores that are too easy, but just perfect for the younger ones. So it’s important to make this decision ahead of time.

The next thing to do is decide how much you will pay your children for the chores they will do. You can pay them per chore or per week, but it’s important that they know how they will be paid. It’s also important for them to know what happens if they don’t do the chores. While this is hard to enforce, you must do it so they know you are series. It’s also a good way for them to know what happens in the real world when they get a job.

Once these two decisions have been made you need to decide how you will keep track of the chores and how you will assign them if they will be different from day to day or month to month. There are a couple of ways to do this, but not all of them may work. So you need to look into them and decide what you will use.

1. Chore list
2. Paper on the fridge
3. Whiteboard
4. Memory

Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages so you need to consider those before making a decision. The whiteboard and possibly the chore list will cost you money so you definitely want to think about those before you make the purchase. The paper on the fridge and memory don’t cost anything so you’re not out anything if they don’t work.

Paying allowance can be hard if you don’t regularly go to the bank or have cash on hand, so it’s important to make sure you find a way to get the money and pay them regularly. They will become discouraged and not want to do the chores if you don’t pay them like you decided. You may want to consider paying them when you get paid or get the money at the beginning of the month and then pay them each week.

Once the allowance discussions have been done it’s time to put everything into action. Make sure everyone knows when the chores must be done, what happens if they aren’t, and when payment will be made. It’s important to do chores and when you enforce it each day or week your children will become responsible adults from it.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of http://WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has a teenager and a tween. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you go to http://peekintomylifeasasportsmom.com to read her mommy blog.